Two people are in police custody in Mexico after a gruesome discovery was made in the border town, Ciudad Juárez, in the state of Chihuahua.
Police say they received an anonymous tip that something was off at a crematorium business.
What they found was horrifying and utterly surprising.
Trigger warning: This article contains details of violence that may be distressing to some
The facility was in the business of incinerating corpses for funeral homes
According to El Pais news from Spain, police began investigating the Plenitud crematorium in Ciudad Juárez in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico on Friday, June 28th, after an unnamed person called in suspicious activity.
After searching the facility, which was a private crematorium, they found hundreds of embalmed cadavers, with many stacked up on top of each other.
El Pais says the facility was in the business of taking embalmed bodies from funeral homes with the promise of incinerating them.
But, police say, that is not what happened.
Local police are calling the case “atrocious” and “unprecedented”
The building is described as roughly constructed, with five or six rooms.
El Pais quotes police calling it “an atrocious case” that is “unprecedented” with all of the bodies resulting from natural causes.
Police say both people arrested in connection to the case had worked at the facility, which was subcontracted by at least five funeral homes for the incineration of corpses.
So far, 383 bodies have been found, with another six partial corpses.
Police say they are still investigating, but gang involvement is not likely
The case has gotten a lot of attention from local and international media, with many people wondering if the incident is gang-related.
El Pais reports that Carlos Salas, the Attorney General for the Mexico state of Chihuahua, has ruled out the possibility that criminal gangs had been using the crematorium to hide corpses.
“He sees no evidence of that type of crime so far, since all the bodies were duly identified and had legal documentation,” El Pais reported.
Salas added that gangs who operate in Ciudad Juárez don’t normally embalm the bodies or send them to a private business for incineration.
Two employees of the facility are now under investigation for their alleged involvement
Two people have been arrested and are in police custody in connection with the case.
Tampering with bodies is a serious crime.
Media reports that José Luis N., who is 50 years old, and Facundo N., whose age is unknown, have been apprehended for their alleged participation in crimes involving the burial, exhumation and respect of human corpses or remains.
El Pais says both defendants worked at the crematorium, which had been working with at least five funeral companies to incinerate their corpses, in some cases, since the year 2020.
The investigation could be hindered because embalming chemicals affect a body’s DNA
Now, authorities have the arduous task of identifying the remains and delivering them to families, some of whom have never received their loved ones after passing.
According to officials from the Chihuahua Public Ministry, that could take a while.
Spokesperson Jáuregui Moreno says that since the bodies have been treated with chemicals—which are needed for the conservation and mortuary processz—identifying them will be more difficult.
That’s because the chemicals affect the body’s DNA, which is crucial to police investigations.
Local media says that, of the 383 bodies removed from the crematorium, roughly 288 have been processed by experts.
“Just another day in Mexico”: Netizens aren’t surprised by the discovery
The case is gripping netizens from countries around the world.
Many people are wondering how something like this could have happened, and are commenting on how traumatizing it must be for the families.
Others alluded to the fact that Mexico is notorious for its missing persons’ cases.
“Just another day in Mexico,” one person said.
In one recent case, the body parts of nine people were discovered in an abandoned car in the city of San José Miahuatlán, in the state of Puebla, Mexico.
Authorities believe the bodies may have belonged to students from the state of Tlaxcala who were reported missing at the end of February.
The discovery of hundreds of embalmed bodies at a crematorium in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, has netizens disgusted
